Improving maternal and child health outcomes is a top priority for decision-makers and community stakeholders across the country. However, we continue to have the highest maternal death rate of all developed countries, and we are the only industrialized nation with a rising rate. At Unite Us, we know we can do better. That’s why we are dedicated to advancing equity and improving maternal health outcomes for all pregnant people and new parents.

In a new issue brief, we discuss maternal health challenges and priorities in the U.S. You will learn:

• Contributing factors to maternal health inequities
• Key policy priorities to improve maternal health
• Data solutions that take a human-centered approach to identifying needs and improving outcomes

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The Role Community-Based Organizations Play in Improving Maternal Health Outcomes

Community-based organizations (CBOs) have long played a key role in addressing critical care gaps, advancing equity, and supporting the health of mothers and infants. Through their community-driven approaches and culturally competent models of care, CBOs are not only better equipped to address the unique challenges and unmet needs of mothers and infants across communities, but also provide access to wraparound services that go beyond traditional models of care. These services, which range anywhere from community-based doula programs to freestanding birth centers, demonstrate the importance of adopting a human-centered approach to identify needs and improve outcomes.

It is only by continuing to leverage evidence-based, novel interventions, that communities will be able to help meet mothers where they’re at, when they need help most.

Empowering Partners to Drive Change

At Unite Us, we work with community-based organizations, health systems, and government partners to ensure all women and infants, particularly those at risk of poor health outcomes, have a chance at a safe and healthy life.

We believe innovative and collaborative strategies should focus on removing barriers to accessing care, emphasizing preventative approaches and integrated community programs. Our shared, community-wide platform makes it easier for health, human, and social service providers to:

• Connect underserved pregnant people and new parents to coordinated care and resources, so they can get the care they need when they need it.
• Leverage proactive interventions such as home-visitation programs, prenatal care providers, and breastfeeding support.
• Increase access to high-quality maternal care by partnering with credible provider networks and social service agencies; building strong partnerships and learning collaboratives with public and private stakeholders help advance equitable maternal health care in the U.S.

Partner Spotlight: A Model of Coordinated Care Powered by Unite Us

We’re proud to partner with organizations like First 1,000 Days Sarasota, which connects families with community resources such as financial assistance, healthcare, and food during pregnancy and in the first 1,000 days of life.

Care coordination: Sixty-five organizations and over 110 unique programs have joined Unite Florida in Sarasota County, connecting CBOs, pediatricians, obstetricians, and local government agencies to provide care coordination to low-income families and their children.

Parent participation: A parent advisory committee ensures parents’ voices are woven into every aspect of the initiative. The group meets every other month and offers guidance on their social media campaign, community murals, and initiative marketing strategies.

Targeted interventions: First 1,000 Days Sarasota formed a county-wide Plan of Safe Care task force. The Plan of Safe Care is a federal mandate to identify and support pregnant women with a history of substance use by providing ongoing care coordination for the families after birth until the child is five years old. Sarasota County is pioneering an innovative program by partnering with Unite Us to pilot their care coordination platform.

With critical policy tools, willing community partners, and the right SDoH solutions coming into place, we can turn this crisis around. No family should have to grieve during what should be one of the most celebratory times in life.

Download the brief to learn more about this partnership and how our data-powered, social care solution can drive change and positively impact maternal and infant health outcomes.

Interested in taking a collaborative approach to improving maternal health outcomes in your community? Watch our webinar to hear from industry experts on how adopting a collaborative approach is key when bridging gaps and driving better outcomes for new and expecting parents.

Watch the Webinar

The post Collaborative Innovations to Improve Maternal Health appeared first on uniteus.com.

Understanding root causes of poor child health outcomes

By several indicators of well-being, children and youth across the U.S. lag behind their counterparts in countries with similar levels of economic development (OECD, 2019). These disparities are most prevalent in the early childhood development period, as children in this country face much higher rates of infant and child mortality as well as poverty, hunger, and violence, when compared with children in other OECD countries. Poor health and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have consequences throughout adulthood, with negative impacts on physical and behavioral health, as well as future education and employment opportunities.

Child health outcomes often reflect neighborhood indicators of poverty, homelessness, and other social determinants. As a result, the U.S. sees persistent health inequities in children on the basis of race and socio-economic status. These health disparities are the consequence of systemic racism and other historical injustices, and play a role in perpetuating the higher health, economic and social burdens that many low-income, Black, indigenous people, and people of color, carry throughout their lives.

Models of progress

Unite Us’ shared, community-wide infrastructure creates an ecosystem that allows health, human, and social service providers to leverage evidence-informed interventions such as home visitation programs, as well as locally developed interventions that address the unique needs of Black and Indigenous mothers and babies. The Unite Us Platform also brings together the work of a wide range of children’s health stakeholders and public agencies whose efforts are often disconnected and less effective in siloes.

There are many incredible health and community-based organizations who have made significant progress in this space. Our team at Unite Us is dedicated to supporting these efforts and working closely with our partners to develop and identify new solutions and best practices. Here are just two examples of this work from our networks:

• In California, our platform was highlighted as a solution to support ACES Aware, an initiative led by the Office of the California Surgeon General and the Department of Health Care Services to give Medi-Cal providers training, clinical protocols, and payment for screening children and adults for ACEs.
• In Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the Unite Florida network recently partnered with the First 1000 Days Initiative, a multi-sector collaborative dedicated to coordinating care for all expectant mothers and families with young children in need of community support to ensure children can thrive. Unite Us supports the First 1000 Days’ strategic goal to ‘Reduce Sources of Stress,’ for young families by reducing barriers, improving coordination of services, simplifying processes to get access to care, and ensuring basic needs are met.

“Last Friday, I worked with a client with pressing medical needs who had lost her job and health insurance because of COVID. She wasn’t asking for much from us but I could sense that she felt defeated and was desperate for assistance. I entered her into Unite Us and referred her to a women’s health clinic. I just got a note from the platform that the clinic had contacted her and are helping her get emergency Medicaid, financial planning assistance and parenting support. It brought me to tears to read that. This client has been weighing on my heart all week.” – Donna Love, Early Literacy Outreach and Partners Coordinator for Sarasota County Libraries

Coordinated solutions now more important than ever

The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the challenges facing low-income families in historically marginalized communities with anticipated long-term repercussions for many children over their lifetime. For children, school closures and new financial hardships can cause emotional strain, loss of health coverage, food insecurity, and reduced access to health and social services including school-based health clinics, school screening and early intervention programs, on-site counseling, school based lunches, and physical exercise. Interruptions to care and routine as a result of the pandemic may also adversely affect the lives of nearly 13 million children who need ongoing care to meet complex health needs (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2020).

Around the country, we are building an ecosystem centered on meeting the needs of children and their families. Whether you’re a teacher, doctor, clinician, school nurse, or social service provider, our mission is to empower you to connect children and families to the services they need. Together with our partners across 40 states, we are actively working to improve the lives and outcomes of children and youth, because we all believe that the zip code a child is born into should not determine their health, well-being, or chance at a fulfilling life.

Learn more about how Unite Us can support your efforts:

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The post Putting Children’s Needs First: Building Coordinated Care Networks to Improve Outcomes appeared first on uniteus.com.